ith two rebellious
Sakalava tribes as an ample justification of their present action.

(3) Others, again, refer to the repudiated and abandoned "Lambert
treaty" of 1862 as, somehow or other, still giving the French a hold
upon Madagascar. And (4) during the last few days we have been gravely
informed that "France will insist upon carrying out the treaty of 1868,"
which gives no right in Madagascar to France beyond that given to every
nation with whom a treaty has been made, and which says not one word
about any French protectorate.[12]

It will be necessary to examine these four points a little in detail.

1. Of what value are "ancient French rights" in Madagascar? These do not
rest upon _discovery_ of the country, or prior occupation of it, since
almost every writer, French, English, or German, agrees that the
Portuguese, in 1506, were the first Europeans to land on the island.
They retained some kind of connection with Madagascar for many years;
and so did the Dutch, for a shorter period, in the early part of the
seventeenth century; and the English also had a small colony on the
south-west side of the island before any French attempts were made at
colonization. Three European nations therefore preceded the French in
Madagascar.

During the seventeenth century, from 1643 to 1672, repeated efforts were
made by the French to maintain a hold on three or four points of the
east coast of the island. But these were not colonies, and were so
utterly mismanaged that eventually the French were driven out by the
exasperated inhabitants; and after less than thirty years' intermittent
occupation of these positions, the country was abandoned by them
altogether for more than seventy years.[13] In the latter part of the
eighteenth century fresh attempts were made (after 1745), but with
little better result; one post after another was relinquished; so that
towards the beginning of the present century the only use made of
Madagascar by the French was for the slave-trade, and the maintenance of
two or three trading stations for supplying oxen to the Mascarene
Islands.[14] In 1810 the capture of Mauritius and Bourbon by the British
gave a decisive blow to French predominance in the Southern Indian
Ocean; their two or three posts on the east coast were occupied by
English troops, and were by us given over to Radama I., who had
succeeded in making himself supreme over the greater portion of the
island. The French eventually seized the